Rizwan-ul Haq is the only Indian in the elite list of referees drawn up by the Asian Football Confederation for this year.

The Delhi-based Rizwan, a FIFA referee, has officiated in several international matches. His father, the late Ikram-ul Haq, was also a well-known FIFA referee.

All the 42 referees in AFC's elite panel, selected on the basis of their performance in 2004, are now in Kuala Lumpur for a three-day course aimed to improve the quality of refereeing in Asia, the AFC said.

The course looks to introduce new ideas, concepts and advanced skills to the referees, which should give them the best possible opportunities to perform at the highest level.

Only referees in this elite group will be allowed to officiate in AFC competitions in 2005 which includes the FIFA World Cup qualification, AFC Champions League, the AFC Cup as well as the AFC youth events, the AFC said.

"Before we had a huge list of referees and with the limited number of matches available, our referees can only officiate between three to four matches a year. This is insufficient match practice for our referees to improve," AFC president Mohamed bin Hammam said in a statement.

"Now, with only 42 referees for all of our matches, they will have more chances to develop and discover themselves," he said.

The AFC chief stressed the 42 referees need to prove to the rest of the world that Asian referees are on par with the best. AFC will be monitoring very closely the performances of these elite referees and at the end of 2005 will issue a new list for 2006.

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